Milo gritted his teeth, irritation hovering closer again. Helping the girl had been a mistake, but it was too late to change things. He refused to look at the girl in his arms, but he felt her heat and weight and was unable to ignore her. She was still naked, shivering slightly as she clung to his body. He paused to wrap his long coat around her before moving on, pointedly looking everywhere but at her. He felt stupid, and rash. What was he supposed to do now? He would have to take responsibility for someone other than himself, something he had fled from his entire life.

He had no real goal, he was just wandering, pacing. He decided that he would continue until his head cleared, so step by step he left the bay behind.

"Where are you taking me?"

Her soft words annoyed him to no end. He didn't want to interact.

"I don't know. Where should I take you?"

Perhaps she did have somewhere safe to go, somewhere he could dump her off, he thought, hoping in vain.

"I don't know," she replied.

His mind roared when he heard her words. Fuck! He wanted to get rid of her, but then his foolish rescue would be for naught. He was fuming, pissed at himself.

He continued to ignore her, continued to walk without aim, continued to walk away.

As the sun started to brighten the sky, he carried her out of the city together with the earliest morning traffic. There were more people coming into the city than going out, so he had to weave his way through a chaos of carts and wagons, people, horses and oxes. Fortunately, most of the farmers on their way to the city markets knew to keep away from a Nyx, so they were left relatively undisturbed apart from some stares flying their way.

He still hadn't looked at the girl properly since he picked her up, and for some reason he hoped that she was ugly just so this cliché would be less...well cliché. He exhaled in exasperation and forced himself to look down at her; he would have to at some point, and sooner would be better than later. His eyes swept across her face; she was sleeping. His frown settled as he saw her closed eyes, and he allowed himself to study her with more care.

She was tiny, delicate. Her long tousled hair was dirty but somewhere he could see a light red color. She had some freckles on her cheeks but otherwise she seemed to be pale beneath the grime that covered her. Pale enough to look white next to his black skin. She smelled really bad, but considering how she looked it wasn't strange.

He refused to think of her as beautiful although he guessed that she was.

She opened her eyes, as if she had sensed that he was staring. He turned away but not soon enough. He noted that her eyes were green, like his.

"You're a Gaian, aren't you?"

Of all the questions she could have asked him, she chose this one? Her tone was curious, and as he was a bit surprised to hear: not scared. He had carried her away from her home, and she wasn't scared? She wasn't whining? She didn't even ask where they were going. He shook his head.

"I'm a Nyx'gaian, you should be scared."

He didn't know why he tried to intimidate her, and for some reason he wasn't all that surprised when she didn't react.

"Ah, so you're a Nyx then, you're going to have to try a lot harder to make me afraid of you. You just saved my life."

He couldn't help himself then, his eyes strayed down towards hers and he cringed a little at the gratitude he saw resting like as a hazy mist across them. He didn't do this, he didn't save: he killed!

He snorted in response, but he didn't talk. He refused to talk.

"I'm Annie."

He didn't answer.

When the morning sun reached high enough to warm the air they arrived at the first village with its own tavern and smithy. This would have to do, she would stay here, far away from him.

"Can you walk?" he asked.

She chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I was wondering when you would ask."

Her merry tone warmed him a little, despite his struggles to shut her out. He put her down and started towards the tavern.

"Ehh..."

He heard her, and he didn't care... but he did stop. He turned and looked at her, although grudgingly.

"Do you think I should wear anything more than this perhaps, if we are to go inside?" she asked, reminding him of the fact that she only had his coat on, which of course was highly inappropriate.

He did what he usually did in these situations, he improvised. He scooped her up again and carried her inside the tavern, ignoring her angry squeal.

It was a sorry establishment, chairs and tables were scattered randomly across the room, filthy from the night before. Shards of broken glass glinted in the weak light so he stepped carefully around the place. He spotted the matron, a short and round woman, busy scrubbing one of the back shelves.

"We are in need of some assistance, a bath and a set of clothes," he told her.

The woman turned around and flashed a very insincere smile towards them.

"Of course," she said, failing to hide her suspicion. He knew it too well. Nyx'gaians were almost always met with contempt and not a small amount of fear. They were known as spies, thieves, murderers, trouble... and he couldn't really oppose the notion. They were a shady bunch, and their association with the night didn't help their cause.

He left the girl in the hands of the matron, threw some coins on the counter, and left without looking back, without saying goodbye. He walked away from the village and away from trouble. She wasn't his problem anymore, Thank Io!

-----

Vito woke up as his horse nudged his side, urging him to move so that it could taste the grass directly under his body. Cheeky horse. He groaned and sat up, wiping sleep out of his eyes. When they were clear enough he checked his surroundings. The clearing looked just as before, however, the water was normal, not black. The atmosphere of the place felt different too, as if it was relieved, as if it had let out a breath it had held for a long time. It was a weird feeling.

He tried to stand up, but instantly toppled over again. He was a bit shocked to realize that he was completely drained of energy, and starving. He made another effort and managed to grasp on to the saddle. He began to scour the saddlebags and smiled as he found some dry bread and an apple. Meager pickings to say the least, but for now it was like a little piece of heaven. However, he would need more provisions soon so it was definitely time to move on. He had seen what he came here to see. Now it was time to start searching even if he wasn't entirely sure of what he was supposed to find. Or who.

After another few minutes of struggle, he mounted his horse with a wince -- no improvement there – his butt was still awfully sore. He nudged the horse's sides and rode out of the clearing, aiming towards the line of trees that seemed to stand a lot further away from each other this time around. He also noticed that the birds were chirping away, which they hadn't done yesterday. It was strange, very strange. He bit down the unease and urged his horse forward.

An hour later he still hadn't found his way out of the forest and it started to get to him. He was starting to be afraid. It had taken him a minute to traverse the distance last night, and now... If not for the sun he would have thought he traveled the wrong way. As it was, the world seemed foreign, and that thought wasn't comforting at all. The only thing that kept him reasonably calm was the horse. It seemed completely at ease, and he knew from his lessons to trust a horse's instincts whenever his own failed him. He held on to that thought until he finally saw the road before him. The sight was such a relief that he laughed out loud, throwing him arms around the horse's neck, thanking it for getting him out of there.

It took him another hour to reach the village he skirted past late last night. He knew they had a tavern, and almost rubbed his palms at the thought of some ale. He was past caring for how people saw him. Now he knew what real fear felt like, and what he felt before was nothing in comparison.

The village looked different in daylight. People bustled around, looking busy. It wasn't a big village, but it was still large enough that it tested his resolve to be around Humans. Most of them looked like they didn't have enough to eat, and it saddened him.

He left his horse outside the tavern and went in, anxious to get his hands around a mug of alcohol. He wanted to forget all about that pond and his journey through the forest this morning.

He opened the squeaking door, and stepped inside.

"Well missy, he don't leave enough money for ya, so ya have to work it off!" The shrill voice carried a vicious taint and he winced as he saw the oversized woman behind the counter crowding over a tiny girl.

"What does she owe?" he asked. His heart talked long before his mind caught up. He didn't have enough money for spending it like this. He wanted to take it back, but he couldn't.

"Twenny!"

Vito arched his eyebrows at the ridiculous sum. He closed in on the two while holding his stare. He could see the moment when the woman's eyes registered that his were white. She flinched, but held her stance. He continued to stare, but she didn't budge.

"She can't possibly owe you more than five. Take it, then I'll give you another three for provisions. That's me being generous..."

The woman only scoffed. "Yu'r no ev'n gettin' provisions for ei't!"

"Nine," he spat back.

They ended the bargain when he handed over fifteen coins, much more than he could afford, but much less than what she had haggled for.

He braved a glance at the young woman whose freedom he just bought. Her green eyes pierced through him, and he found himself short of breath. A small smile produced a dimple in one of her freckled cheeks. He cringed at the intense connection. Why didn't she look away? Why didn't she react?

He was shoved out of his reverie when the young woman started to move. He followed her with his eyes and soon understood that she was headed around the counter, towards him. He collected himself just in time for her to stretch her hand out and take his.

"Thank you, stranger."

Her voice held a sensual melody, so different from all the voices he constantly heard inside his head, and so different from the N'aians' archaic intonation that had surrounded him for the last twenty years. She smiled a little again, and he realized that he hadn't answered her.

"You are welcome. I'm Vito." His voice cracked a little as he found himself strangely parched.

"I'm Annie, could you possibly take me to the next village? I don't think that I want to stay here."

He found himself nodding at her suggestion. Leaving her in a village could work.

"Do you mind if we leave right away?" he asked, and she shook her head, seemingly pleased to be gone as soon as possible.

They exited the tavern, but had not taken more than two steps outside before he felt a sharp edge against his throat.

"Annie, who is this?" a man said with a sharp voice.

Vito struggled to keep still while panic rose inside of him. He didn't enjoy sharp objects close to his aorta.

"This kind gentleman paid up the rest that I owed after my bath and clothes."

The didn't sound frightened, but then again, she didn't have a knife at her throat, and she seemed to know the man holding the knife... How on earth had he ended up in this situation?

"She asked you to pay more? I handed her more than enough," the man huffed angrily.

"Why are you back?" Now she sounded angry.

"I don't know," the man replied, almost shouting the words as if he couldn't understand it any better than she.

Vito thought he should take his chance.

"Would you mind?" he asked, and the knife was slowly released from his skin. He took a deep breath but it didn't help, he was still shivering from all the adrenaline. He turned around and almost lost another heartbeat.

"You?" he exclaimed. The Nyx'gaian in front of him frowned but didn't answer.

"Do you know each other?" Annie asked, her soft voice breaking the awkward the silence.

"No," they said simultaneously, still staring at each other.

"I would like to introduce you to a Nei'gaian called Qumo, would you be interested in seeing him?" Vito asked. He noticed that the Nyx reacted, but he couldn't read anything into it.

A second later all traces of that reaction were gone and the Nyx answered, "Yes, take me to Qumo."